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Didn't New York City barely avoid bankruptcy in the seventies for one example?

It's not like the USA is debt free, far from it

I like your point, just not how you made it

Not having a go, just making a point if I can

You're dead on and I apologize for the patronizing remarks.

As for NYC, or any incorporated municipality for that matter, they run their own local governments so it's not uncommon for a locality to run themselves into the ground. This phenomenon can occur during good times and bad.

But when this occurs within a nation-state, it's a different sum game. Especially in Europe, where the EU is still loosely based and outside the bounds of traditional sovereignty. For example, Italy and Greece, two horrible misgoverned countries, are looking to Germany to bail them out.

You're correct to point out the US is far from debt free and that's why folks on the right are so pissed right now. They abandoned W when he was President because he took spending to a whole new level, only to be outdone by Obama who doubled W's spending output in half the time.

Now we are $16 Trillion in debt with only $15 Trillion in money circulation. We cannot afford to pay the interest on the debt, let alone the actual debt.

Thus, my overall point is Europe is the cautionary tale. And Americans, mostly on the left, are not listening.

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Re: How bad is this?

7) The gaffes don’t matter. Everyone interested in elections should read this post from John Sides at The Monkey Cage. It makes an important point: Though gaffes set political analysts scurrying to their keyboards, they tend not to affect the average voter.

We see this with the now-infamous “47 percent” comment. Gallup described the statement and asked how it would affect respondents’ votes. Twenty percent said it would make them more likely to vote for Romney, 36 percent said less likely, and 43 percent said it would make no difference.

Drilling down to self-described Independents, 15 percent said it would make them more likely to support Romney, 29 percent less likely, and 53 percent said it would make no difference. You can try to sex that up (as Gallup did) to read that Independents say it makes them less likely to vote for Romney by a 2-1 margin, but you could just as easily say that three-quarters of independents say the gaffe makes no difference or helps Romney.

We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid. - Benjamin Franklin